This amazing estuary fly tied in Qantas colours of red and white or natural colours of olive and shrimp is like candy to many estuary species. This estuary version is tied on a size #2/0 hook with a 3/16″ dumbbell eyes.
Whilst not designed to represent any particular bait fish I have designed this fly to have a shape, form and function similar to many of the little fish that predators hunt. This #2/0 estuary fly is 9 cm long and because it’s unweighted it’s relatively easy to cast. It’s a great fly to use when … Read more
I developed this fly to fish both the snaggy rock and coral waters but more recently have found a place for it when fishing the open blue waters and estuary waters of Central Queensland.
I tie this fly on a #1 or #3/0 unweighted worm hook to which I add my own weight. Even though the natural jelly prawn is only about 4cm long versions bigger than that dont seem to worry bigger fish and I am guessing that they are more tuned into the colour, form and function of the oversized representation of a jelly prawn and see the bigger offering of protein as a bonus.
This is the third in my series of scrounger flies and like the scrounger baitfish and the scrounger jelly prawn it’s tied on a worm hook which in soft plastic parlance is also referred to as a weedless hook and more often than not this fly can be retrieved not only through weed but also over or around most structure such as detritus matter, drowned timber, rocks etc, in rivers and lakes, without being snagged up.
This fly can be cast onto a muddy bank, right into mangroves and onto rock bars and then can be retrieved over and through all manner of structure with an extremely low incidence of getting snagged up.
This fly is a floating version of my PET prawn fly and can be a real game changer and so much fun when estuary species, particularly bream and whiting, are feeding on the surface.
Poppers are a bit harder to cast than a normal fly because of the wind resistance but if you slow your cast down a little I’m sure you’ll soon get the hang of it. Once you do you have another tool in your arsenal which is useful in three diverse situations:
This fly is basically my original mud prawn that I released in 2003 and have now miniaturised and modified so as to represent the sort shrimp that you find on tidal flats in tropical waters. As an aside I note there is anecdotal evidence that there are permit and even bonefish on some of the local Central Queensland tidal flats so the search is on to find them. This tan version is the most translucent of my tidal flats shrimp and is my go to version for crystal clear water.
With just these seven colour each tied in two sizes and a couple of weights you will be ready for some fantastic bonefish sessions on the flats. Christmas Island Special in: Pink, Pearl, Orange – rich, Orange – light, Violet, Chartreuse & Yellow.
